Empowering Farmers to Manage Water in sub-Saharan Africa
A project led by The Australian National University (ANU) has won a prestigious international award for its work supporting social enterprises in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ‘Transforming Irrigation in Southern Africa’ (TISA) project took home the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Excellence in Practice Gold Award the in the Ecosystem Development category.
Established in 2013, the project now works with 15,500 farm businesses and 42 irrigator corporations across three countries.
Professor Jamie Pittock from the ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society and the Institute for Water Futures said that the agricultural research for development project has significant impact for a more equitable and sustainable world.
“The Australian National University exists to advance learning to transform society by addressing global challenges. We are proud of our complex Transforming Irrigation in Southern Africa research with our African and Australian partners for more equitable and sustainable development,” Professor Pittock said.
“It is an honour to collaborate with so many wonderful people and organisations to empower farmers to manage water more productively improve their livelihoods and food security.”
“This award is welcome recognition of the excellent work of our partners, especially in Africa, and a boost for promoting the solutions identified in our work for sustainable development.”
Improving the farmers’ livelihoods and food security has resulted in households spending more money on food, education and health. The increased farm income has also resulted in hiring more non-family labour, creating jobs for other community members.
TISA was funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and delivered in collaboration with the University of South Australia and a number of international partners.
European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is an international non-profit, membership-driven organisation, which is recognised globally as an accreditation body for business schools, business school programmes, and corporate universities.
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The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
